Ford’s Theater

This is another layout from our Washington D.C. album that brings back instant memories every time I see it. Isn't that what scrapbooking is supposed to do? I see these photos and remember the whole day, not just the moment in time that I captured with my camera. What I remember most when I see these photos is how many times my kids asked me to take their picture on this trip!

Our first full day in D.C. we visited the National Museum of American History and I had registered us for a Washington D.C. at Night Tour. My thinking was to book an accessible tour early in our trip with the goal to visit to the popular tourist destinations. Jim and I could scope things out and determine how easy and accessible it would be to come back to certain cites with a wheelchair. My reasoning was if a location was inaccessible, we would have at least seen it even if we couldn't easily get back to it during the remainder of our trip. What we learned was Washington D.C. is one of the most accessible vacation destinations we had ever visited. However, this resulted in double the pictures we took because we had night shots and day shots of The Lincoln Memorial, The FDR Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and the Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima).

The pictures on this layout show our kids before and after the tour. Our meeting location was across from the Hard Rock Cafe, and we headed there for dinner. I had been here before and knew that we would be passing Ford's Theater where President Lincoln was shot. I didn't tell the kids in advance, but pointed it out as we were walking. Of course, we had to take pictures of this and the Hard Rock Cafe. I couldn't believe that these were the same kids who I couldn't get to look at the camera at home. Even Zach wanted in on the action and asked for some pictures of just him!

On our way back to the van after the tour, Zach and Alyssia stopped in front of the building across the street from Ford's Theater to read a plaque that stated that this was the place where Lincoln had died. Now, I am thrilled how much our kids love history and wanted to soak every detail, but was surprised when they asked for a picture and then wanted another one of them in front of Ford's Theater in the dark!

I think this vacation will go down in family history for holding the record of how many times Alyssia, Caleb and Zach asked to have their picture taken. All I can say is that I came home with over 3,000 photos to sort through from a 5 day/4 night vacation!

Scrapbooking Tips

I used a Scrapbook Generation sketch to get jump started with this layout. With my travel photos, I really did not want to size them down or crop them because so much of the photo is scenery. So I made a point to pull out The Whole Picture and The Whole Picture Vol. 2. These eBooks have sketches that only feature 4x6 and 6x4 photos. I have reached for these sketches over and over again when I scrapbook any vacation photos.

My challenge with this particular group of photos was that I had one horizontal and four vertical, which made for an odd grouping. The solution was to give the horizontal photo the spotlight. It was also the best picture of Ford's Theater that I took. I gave it a 1/4 inch mat then it went on a 8x6 inch matt. I even stitched a navy blue border around the red mat. I added my title with white letter stickers directly on the photo so it would keep the common margin around the focal point.

Once I had the photo placement where I wanted it, I got to play! Following a sketch, I added a border strip to the top and bottom of my photos - but where I differed from the original sketch is that I used different papers for the top and bottom - stars for the top and stripes for the bottom.

The layout still looked a little simple, so I decided to add a border of flags. I fussy cut all those flags from some pattern paper and then started adhering them to my layout. To add a little dimension, I tilted the flags and then used foam adhesive for every other flag, as you can see in the above photo.

My finishing touch was the sticker of Lincoln I added to the top right of the horizontal picture. It just felt like the title was weighing down that one photo, so the addition of the one sticker helped provide some balance.

I was so proud when Creative Scrapbooker Magazine published this layout. After I sent it in to be photographed and it was returned, I made the mistake of leaving this out on my craft table where I may or may not have been eating some chocolate. With chocolatey fingers, I made the mistake of grabbing this paper and staining it! Trying to wipe it off made it worse, so this is where I had to get creative. I used white Nuvo Drops to carefully apply a thin layer of white over the chocolate. This photo obviously zooms in right up close where you can see the stains, but I bet at first glance, you did not even see this in the first photo! If you go back and look for it, you could probably find it, but if I didn't draw attention to it, most likely, you wouldn't have even noticed!

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Bazzill

Pattern Paper - Simple Stories and Echo Park

Lincoln Stickers - Simple Stories

Letter Stickers - Doodlebug Designs

Foam Adhesive - Hobby Lobby

Embroidery Floss - DMC

Nuvo Drops - Tonic Studio